Your Diary Dates.

      As usual, our friends at ACE in Edinburgh have come up with another very interesting array of events. So mark your diary and if you are in or around Edinburgh on these dates do drop in.

From ACE:

WOMENS HEALTH PROJECTS AND AUTONOMOUS HEALTH CARE IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

6pm Monday 12th December

At Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh

     Join us for a talk and discussion on Womens Health Projects and Zapatista autonomous health care in Chiapas, Mexico. Lisa Sanderson-Fox, who worked in the Zapatista Autonomous Zones of Chiapas from 2000-2004 and has made numerous trips since, will be speaking about community health worker projects with an emphasis on Women's health. Community Health Workers are an essential part of insuring dignified health care in remote indigenous communities. Come hear stories and participate in a discussion about the role of international solidarity in developing sustainable health care access in revolutionary Mayan commmunities of Chiapas.Lisa has worked with Community Health Workers in Chiapas since 2000, providing trainings for hundreds of people and accompanying multiple clinics in the process of developing autonomous health services appropriate for their communities and culture.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1866286753657961/

Organised, in conjunction with ACE, by Edinburgh Chiapas Solidarity

Group

- edinchiapas@yahoo.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/Edinchiapas/

Followed by talk and discussion on Detroit:

DETROIT: FUTURE CITY?

8pm Monday 12th December

At Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh.

Join us for a talk and discussion on Detroit: Future City?

       The US city of Detroit had a population in the region of 1.8 million in the 1950s but automation and the flight of big business, particularly in the automotive industry, led to massive redundancies, foreclosures and the displacement of millions. The population now stands at less than 700,000, the lowest it has been for a century. In the midst of this neo-liberal catastrophe and the associated withdrawal of public services, residents have banded together to create their own solutions including food networks, community safety patrols, free schools and neighbourhood housing projects. However, these pioneering Detroiters are faced with an onslaught of further privatisation, dissolution of democratic control of local government, the removal collective bargaining and raids on pension funds. These competing models of the 'future city' will have ramifications not just in the US but worldwide. Sarah Coffey, a longtime Detroit resident, community organiser and a co-founder of the Midnight Special Law Collective has been closely involved with autonomous communities in the city.

Event page https://www.facebook.com/events/1384551531585461/

Organised by ACE

ACE MONTHLY MEETING

Tuesday 13 December 6pm

All welcome

     We hope all groups involved with ACE will send at least one delegate The monthly meetings are now the second Tuesday each month at 6pm

EDINBURGH COALITION AGAINST POVERTY WORKING SESSION

Thursday 15 December 6pm - 8pm

Updating our website, writing new articles, leaflets etc

All interested very welcome

ECAP www.edinburghagainstpoverty.org.uk

EDINBURGH COALITION AGAINST POVERTY TRAINING

Friday 16 December 11am - 1pm/1.30pm

Informal training for supporting people over benefits problems

At ACE No experience necessary - all interested very welcome

THE BLACK PANTHERS IN LONDON

Talk and discussion at ACE with Carlus Hudson

Saturday 17 December 7pm

        The Black Panthers are one of the most pivotal organisations in the histories of radicalism and anti-racism in the United States, and their ideas have had an enormous impact on activists who have come after them. Far less famous, but by no means less significant, was the Black Panther Movement in Britain. Active in the late 60s and early 70s, its history touches on the fight within the anti-racist movement in Britain between its liberal and radical wings, and the internationalisation of struggles against colonialism, neo-colonialism and the Vietnam War. Focusing on the Black Panthers based in London, this talk will tell their story before delving deeper into the development of the movement’s culture and organisational models. The talk will examine the Black Panthers from the perspective of intersectional anarchism, and show its shortcomings in terms of gender, class, and political hierarchy. Carlus Hudson is a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth researching student anti-racism in the UK in the 1970s'

Autonomous Centre of Edinburgh, 17 West Montgomery Place EH7 5HA

ACE is open Sats 12-4pm, Tues 12-3pm, Thursday 6 - 8pm

     Advice and solidarity on benefits, debt, housing etc on Tuesdays. The Info Shop, Scottish Radical Library and free broadband available all 3 days. Open monthly meetings second Tuesday of the month, 6pm at ACE 0131 557 6242 ace@autonomous.org.uk

www.autonomous.org.uk On Facebook To receive more frequent notifications of ACE events and other news of interest email mike92@riseup.net with header SUBSCRIBE ACE TALK LIST

Ace mailing list

ace@lists.noflag.org.uk

http://lists.noflag.org.uk/listinfo/ace

http://www.autonomous.org.uk

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Respect The Feelings Of Bulldozers.

   A little piece from Contra Info proving that bulldozers have feelings.

       In the early hours of December 2nd 2016, in Exarcheia, on the corner of Akadimias and Themistokleous St. a bulldozer at the service of DEI electricity company couldn’t take it anymore and decided to give an end to its automatized routine. Before its self-immolation the poor machine reportedly said:

      “Solidarity with the comrades Siao, Hodey and Maya, recently arrested in Germany for defending the Hambach forest!

      Strength to the anarchist Natalia Collado, imprisoned in Chile because she liberated a Transantiago bus with fire!”

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Anarchists Have Been Right All Along.

        Anarchist have been consistent in their belief that, if you seek freedom and justice for all, you can't modify the state and/or capitalism, you have to destroy them both. However, this hasn't exactly went down wholeheartedly among the general population. One reason could be that it is difficult to go out and take on the state when your fridge is full, you're booked for a nice holiday abroad. and the "far right" hasn't been rampant on the streets. Now the situation has shifted, lots of people have empty fridges, can't afford any holidays, and the far right is openly on the march, trying to kick the shit out of all those who dare to be different. It is obvious that the so called "left parties" have failed miserably in bringing about a fair and just society, they haven't even been able to defend the few perks that have been won through centuries of struggle, they have presided over the social fabric of society being wiped away before our very eyes, while they displayed their complete impotence.

      We have to shout our ideas louder than ever, people are looking for answers, and if our ideas are not on the table, they wont be picked up. Encouragingly though, our ideas are being picked up, more and more people now realise that the "left parties" as an opposition, have been the problem, and allowed the "far right" to flourish, allowed neo-liberalism to run rampant, and allowed our standard of living to be whittled away.  Politics today, must be moved away from the party political system, moved away from the marble halls, party leaders, presidents, prime ministers, must be ignored, politics must move onto the streets and into the communities. 

      Our struggles can no longer be confined to the local or national level, our enemy is a global enemy, and so we must see a world without borders. Wherever the people enter into open rebellion against the state and/or its bed partner, capitalism, we must display bold and virulent open solidarity with them. Their struggle is our struggle. I can hear the whisper that is becoming a roar, "The anarchist have been right all along." 

 And from It's Going Down:

     Electoral politics feeds off of grassroots social movements and struggles, not into them.

       As Scott Jay wrote:

[E]lectoral activism feeds into electoral activism. It relies on itself to further itself. It attracts people who are attracted to electoral politics and generally does not attract people engaging in class struggle. It does not need, nor does it feed class struggle, except to the extent that it might be able to take advantage of the sacrifices of militants in order to declare itself a proper representative of a social movement it did not create.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Coming War On China.

 

      The other night I did something unusual, I sat and watched a 2 hour documentary on TV, I must admit it was 2 hours well spent. The documentary was John Pilger's "The Coming War On China", it was jammed pact with facts and figures, backed up by photos and statements. What it shows is that there is a savage insanity running through the whole Western capitalist system. War and destructive power are its main ingredients. There is not a shred of humanity to be found in the plans and aims of this juggernaut of manic hate, driven by the militarised American empire. From blatant use of humans in experiments with radioactivity, to outrageous lies to communities, to commandeering whole islands, and destroying the lives and way of life of thousands of ordinary people. All this driven by a paranoia that sees China as something that must be destroyed, no matter the costs.  In their marble halls of power they sit and draw up plans that could, if implemented, destroy all life on the planet, this is, somehow in their deranged minds, is defending freedom.

       If there is anybody out there who still has doubts as to the destructive nature of capitalism, then I ask you to sit and take the time to watch this documentary to the last frame. Not only was my disgust for this system supercharged, my hatred of the capitalist system strongly reinforced, my anger went off the scale. On top of that there was a foreboding feeling of dread, tinged with fear for my kids and grand kids. Watch this Documentary and join the millions across the world who are fighting to bring down this nightmare cancer that is eating at the heart of our planet. It could be much later than you think. 

       As the American establishment feels its power diminishing, it becomes more desperate, more paranoid, more deranged, and grasps around for ways to regain its world dominance, to to them China is seen as the root cause of their slipping power, and so must be destroyed, and to hell with humanity. Sadly, we are part and parcel of that insane destructive nightmare with our Trident nuclear submarines and there nuclear weapons. We are truly living in an asylum, we must break down the walls and regain our freedom before it is all too late.   

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

In Defence Of Autonomy.

 

       This year's demonstrations marking the anniversary of the murder by a police officer, of young 15 year old Alexis Gigoropoulos on December 6th. 2008, turned into a confrontation with the repressive police responsible for that murder, and a large group of anarchists. The battle of resistance mainly took place around Exarcheia Square.
      There are estimates that there were 800-1,000 activists involved in that struggle for autonomy around Exarcheia Square, though as far as the babbling brook of bullshit, the mainstream media were concerned, it never happened.

This report from Anarchist News:

The Exarcheia Commune Rises and Defends Itself, 
a Review of the Battle

Ons Danse le Lachymo…”
Graffiti, France, July 2016
(transl. “We Dance the Teargas”)

“ Comrade, will you watch these while I throw one?” He is tall, masked from head to toe in black, and is known to me. As he speaks he motions to a milk crate stuffed with Molotovs.
“ Sure…go ahead,” I say as I light a cigarette and settle in to guard the precious weapons stash while he tosses the thing at the Social Enemy. Ten minutes later he returns and in spite of the dark night, his black clothing, and the shadow we stand in, he glows with happiness---like the Molotov he just launched, he is alight.
Strategy
The strategy was simple, and for the anarchists new: defend the beating anarchist heart of Athens, of Greece, perhaps the world. Block, stop, and turn back any and all attempts by the Athens Police to get to Exarcheia Square. And do so in a coordinated fashion between all the various groups, teams and squats. Each entity taking responsibility for one or two streets—ensuring they are effectively blocked. This in contrast to previous years when the rioting was scattered, unfocussed and usually developed into clashes around the Polytechnic, the University complex set off several blocks from the Square. This year, the Polytechnic and its environs played no role whatsoever, but Exarcheia Square sure as hell did. Finally, in crystalline form, the strategy was to take and keep liberated territory, to free a community—if only for a few hours.

And further on:

Order of Battle
Anarchists: 800-1,000. Organized as teams of between 5 and 10 fighters. Those from Exarcheia were assigned to various barricades and maintained themselves within their area. Those from outside Exarcheia roamed, the sound of flash bang grenades drawing them to specific streets, militants would frantically move from barricade to barricade as cop charges changed location and intensity. In a lull most hung out in Exarcheia, drank beer, talked, and scrounged for more stuff to throw. The number dwindled over the night to perhaps two hundred when the militants finally dumped arms and hostilities ceased, about 11:00 pm.
Cops: 200-300 (a guess). Based on my observations of the number per charge (20 cops maximum) and the number of barricades being simultaneously probed and harassed—upwards of five, and the number of police needed to provide logistics, support, command, reserves, and to steer traffic well out of the area.
Snapshots
As I sit and write this on the Isle of Lesvos a short 24 hours after the battle a number of scenes come to mind. Sitting in a room discussing preparations for the night, many of the militants standing, pacing, nervous with energy to get started. As I guarded the Molotovs having some Italian comrades wander by. They asked for a Molotov, which I provided and we all agreed that the Greeks had done something very right. Helping a young woman overcome by gas, who, when the Riopan got into her eyes and nose immediately recovered. Like a stoned person suddenly sober-- she straightened, said, “Thank you Comrade,” turned and headed back to the barricade she was attending to. The sight of burning barricades, great arcs of Molotovs fuses sputtering as they flew and struck home in the ranks of the police. The shouting, chanting, laughing, talking--the feeling of really finally being alive. One’s hair standing on end as the flash bangs explode and teargas projectiles clatter on the ground and cloud the street. Finally on my way back to the apartment I was staying at, I noticed a small store open, with several people playing cards at a table in the back. I knocked on the door--needed smokes and something to drink. They motioned me in, and asked where I was from, a few questions and finally one of the older men asked,” So tonight did you see the riots?”
“Yes,” I answered not wanting to give too much away.
“And who are you with, the young people or the cops?”
Hesitantly I said,” The young people, always.”
He smiled broadly and answered,” So are we.”

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

We Will Not Forget.

 

 In memory of Alexia Gigoropoulos.

      Anyone who is aware of the murder of 15 year old youth, Alexis Gigoropoulos, by a police officer in Exarchia, Athens, in 2008, would be well aware that the people of Athens would not allow the anniversary of his cold bloodied murder to go unmarked. Every year since his murder in 2008, large protests against police violence, have take place on December 6th, in towns and cities across Greece. That evening in, December 6th. 2008, Alexis, like so many youths, was hanging out with his friend Niko Romanos in an open air café in Exarchia. Because of a few words of banter from the youths, a police officer drew his gun and shot 15 year old Alexis, who died on the street in the arms of his friend Niko. Niko went on to become a very committed and involved anarchist, and is now in prison. The state, by its actions, always breeds hate against the state.

 Niko Romanos after his arrest.

     So it would be expected that this year, like the previous years, is no exception, and the people of Greece will shout loud and clear, we do not forget, we will not forgive.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Tear Down The Walls.

      Our capitalist, so called democratic society, simply comprises of two types of prisons, there is the one occupied by the vast majority of people, the open prison with its illusion of freedom. However, you are still confined within its framework of CCTV cameras, wage slavery, consumerist and subservient adherence to the established order of inequality. For the majority of people this means that your quality of life is inseparably linked to you market value on any particular day. Then there is the other prison, the closed prison, with its total surveillance, bars, guards, brutal repression and total control. This one is reserved for those who can't, or won't, play by the rules laid down for the smooth running of this unjust exploitative system. If you are a threat to the established order of this society of inequality, then you are very likely to end up in the closed prison. The human spirit being what it is, most of those the state deems "a threat", and condemns to the closed prison, continue their fight for freedom from within these barbaric cages of repression. The methods and tactics of their struggles comprises of many imaginative and courageous variations and should always demand our solidarity and support. The hunger strike is one such avenue of struggle, and should be seen as a barometer of the inhumane barbarity within the prison system. This is the ultimate sacrifice, and can only be carried out by a principled individual, for they are laying down their life for those principles. No system can be included in a civilised society that pushes an individual to take such a step. There is no place within a civilised society for prisons, freedom can only flourish when all the prisons are rubble, and a dark memory from our distant past.

This from Act For freedom Now:

PDF : HUNGER STRIKE AS A MEANS OF STRUGGLE TEAR DOWN THE BASTILLE VOICES FROM INSIDE THE WALLS GREECE ISSUE 6 – APRIL 2016

INTRODUCTORY NOTE
         The “publication of tear down bastille” is in the frames of the functioning of the Solidarity fund for imprisoned and prosecuted fighters and is distributed in- side, as well as outside the walls. The main activity of the fund is to contribute to the livelihood needs of the people who are in- carcerated for their subversive actions and participation in social struggles. Within its capabilities, lies also the support of people whose constant and persistent attitude within the daily prison life has been identified with dignity, solidarity, and the struggle. However, one of its additional main priorities is the contribution to the spreading of the words of the prisoners and the overcoming of its barriers, posed by their incarceration.
          Those of us who take on the publication of this issue are limited to its technical processing and distribution. The texts come exclusively from fighting prisoners – not always only from those who are materially supported by the fund, but also others who decide to stand tall against authority and the devastating condition of incarceration. This present issue is an exception, because it has fulfilled the subjects it’s called to cover. In this case, besides the letters from imprisoned comrades there is also a historical review which was written by the funds’ assembly. Through publishing the thoughts and experiences of prisoners, through the spreading of their words, we seek to make them as present as possible in the daily processes of the fighters outside the walls, we want to shake the barriers of silence, fragmentation, the division among the oppressed, we chose to incarnate the projects of struggle and solidarity in one more way.
       This specific issue refers to hunger strike as a means of struggle, a matter that has intensely concerned not only those directly involved but also those in solidarity, as well as a large part of Greek society. A hunger strike, as a means of struggle, was never a desperate move, or simply a “peace- full” protest in order to project the victimization of the hunger striker and extract sensitivity and charity. It is a conscious struggle, where the coordination of those inside and outside is a necessary condition in order for there to be a result, but also to maintain the strengths of those fighting. Despite all this, we realize that the hunger strike is the ultimate means that a prisoner could choose, we think it is of imperative need to cultivate a bidirectional struggle dynamic inside and outside the walls, that will prevent the condition of someone placing their own body as a mound.
The struggle for revolution and the tearing down of very prison still remains open.
Solidarity Fund For Imprisoned And Persecuted Fighters
http://tameio.net/
For Communication:
tameio@espiv.net
Tear Down The Bastille:
Voices From Inside The Walls

Read the PDF HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

This Shit Has To Go.

      I was pointed to this simple video by a comrade, John Cooper. The summing up at the end is the only answer to our problems.

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Daily Bullshit.

      We all know, or should know, that the mainstream media, is nothing more than a babbling brook of bullshit. However we should never forget, that the bullshit they spew is dangerous, it distorts reality, shapes people's opinions by means of false information, and panders to the established power structure of wealthy parasites. It is the propaganda organ of the wealthy and powerful. Lies will be thrown out with gay abandon, if it suits their purpose, when found out, they will apologise and put it down to human or technical error, and carry on regardless.

     For those naive enough to swallow the poisonous bullshit spewed out by the babbling brook of bullshit, perhaps a read at the following article may raise a few doubts as to the honesty and intentions of this tainted mouthpiece of the establishment.

This from Tarcoteca:

           The mainstream corporate media is desperate.They want to suppress independent and alternative online media, which it categorizes as “fake news”. Readers on social media are warned not to go onto certain sites. The intent of this initiative is to smear honest reporting and Truth in Media. Our analysis confirms that the mainstream media are routinely involved in distorting the facts and turning realities upside down.
       They are the unspoken architects of “Fake News”. One area of routine distortion is the use of fake videos and images by the mainstream media.

Four Notorious Cases of Media Distortion         These are four examples and there are many more. The manipulation of videos and images is routine. In some cases, these manipulations are revealed by readers, independent media and social media. In most cases they go undetected. And when they are revealed, the media will say “sorry” we apologize: they will then point to technical errors. “we got the wrong video”.
        What is important to emphasize is that these media distortions are invariably deliberate.

Continue reading and see the four videos HERE: 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Determined Solidarity Wins Again.

      As I prepared for bed last night I got the news that the Water Protectors seemed to have won a major victory. So once again mass protest and solidarity, with the world's eyes watching, has slowed the corporate juggernaut of greed. It now seems that the US Corp of Army Engineers has denied the Dakota Access Pipeline its route across Lake Oahe. I said slowed the Access Pipeline, as the Corp of Army Engineers are going to carry out a survey and look at an alternative route. Let's wait and see what transpires from that survey, it could be a tactic to disperse the thousands of water protectors and then introduce an equally devastating plan. Perhaps not, but it is a thought. Whatever is the outcome, it has slowed the greed juggernaut, not yet stopped it. This victory must bring home the message that the power of the people, working in solidarity, can stop the unbridled rape, plunder and destruction of the planet.

      However, let's not start the party just yet, the water protectors must still keep their eyes on the ball, where will this snake of destruction turn its head towards? This pipeline is partially completed, whose water supply, whose land is now going to be polluted? I doubt if we will see it abandoned, unless??

      Well done to those thousands of ordinary people who faced down the fierce brutality of the world's most militarised police, the vicious winter conditions, and came out standing tall at Standing Rock. Let's all learn from their actions, with determine solidarity we can challenge and win 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Our Anger Must Be Daily.

The Homeless.

Tenebrous spectres, they exist,    out there,

on the crumbling edge of chaos.

A father, a son, a brother,

a daughter, a sister, a mother.

Fragments of some shattered family structure;

waste products

from a society being drive to destruction

by a hurricane of greed

living a life that wears out life,

dying,

the devious death of destruction from existence.

        There seems to be an out pouring of anger and and pity at the death of a young homeless man who died in the city centre of Birmingham in what was the coldest night of the year so far. My heart goes out that young man, his friends and family, but why does it take his death for that out pouring of emotion? People living on the streets of the fifth richest country in the world, should be enough to get that anger and emotion boiling over. I have no doubt that Birmingham, like all of UK cities, is awash with wealth, lots of empty properties, yet they all have people living openly on the streets in the cruel British weather.   Think, how many homeless people did you see sitting on the pavements the last time you walked trough town? Can you call yourself a civilised country, when people die on the streets from cold and hunger? This case should be more proof, if any more proof was needed, that this system of capitalism that dominates our lives, is incapable of seeing to the needs of all our people. It breeds inequality, poverty and deprivation, yet smothers a band of parasites in unimaginable opulence. It fails miserable to help those in most need, it discards humans it deems as unproductive. It has created a world of insecurity, desperation, and alienation, for what? Nothing more than wealth and power to the few, struggle and anguish for the many. The system is not set in stone, despite the illusion they try to create, that it is the only game in town. It is a man made economic system, that syphons wealth to that cabal of parasites, at the expense of us all. It can and should be destroyed, if we want any form of justice for all. 

 

The Warmth Of A Dream.

 

He lay in a dark doorway, dreamed of home,

night frost locked his joints

morning rain chilled the marrow of his bone.

In the dream there was a sister,

a pram in a garden, a crowd of youngsters

who called him "mister", a time of little pain.

Are these youngsters the same young men, who

now laugh at him, throw beer cans,

piss on him as he lies drunk in some dark lane?

When was that first step down this slippery slope,

When was that first step to no forgiveness.

No will to rise to beg for food,

numbness kills the pain.

The dream brings a warmth that feels good,

dark fog shades out consciousness,

an ambulance carries of a body washed in rain. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

 

 

The World's Eyes On Standing Rock.

 

      The camp set up by the water protectors at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline is facing a critical stage, as December the 5th, is the date set by the Army Corps of Engineers and North Dakota Governor, Jack Dalrymple to evict the water protectors. Solidarity, and publicity are needed now more than ever. Let's raise their voices across the planet. Support is growing in America, there are thousands of US veterans now arriving at the camp, there solidarity is welcome and needed. 

-------the announcement comes as thousands of U.S. Army veterans are expected to arrive at the Oceti Sakowin camp this weekend in anticipation of the Dec. 5 eviction notice given to the camp by the Army Corps of Engineers and North Dakota Governor, Jack Dalrymple. 

      Another show of solidarity comes from a delegation of Cuban trained doctors, who are heading for the camp to lend their expertise and support. Monday will be a very testing day, will the US state unleash its usual militarised violence against such large numbers, including thousands of its veterans, on its on soil? history should give us a dire warning. If the eviction goes ahead as stated, it will not be a quiet affair. What ever happens, let's make sure the world is watching.

       a delegation of doctors trained at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba announced they will head to Standing Rock to “serve in solidarity.”
        In a late Thursday Facebook post, a group of U.S.-based medical professionals trained at Cuba’s famous Latin American School of Medicine, or ELAM, announced they will head to Standing Rock “to humbly serve in solidarity with the Sacred Water Protectors on the front lines of the current human rights and ecological crisis occurring right now in North Dakota.”
       Dr. Revery P. Barnes, a graduate of ELAM, said in a post on Facebook, “We answer the call to serve in alignment with the mission and core principles of our alma mater and dedication to our commitment to serve underserved communities in our HOME country.” The delegation will work in collaboration with the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council.
      “While Cuba instilled in us an unwavering commitment to internationalism, with the acceptance of a full scholarship to medical school at ELAM, we made the moral commitment to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable communities here at home in the U.S.,” the statement continued.
          On Wednesday, the Standing Rock Medic and Healer Council – which has been providing emergency and chronic health care services to the thousands of water protectors gathered at Standing Rock – issued a warning about the grave health and safety threats posed by escalating use of violence by Morton County Sheriff’s Department and Dakota Access Pipeline security personnel, whom they described as creating “war-like conditions.”

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Not By Bread Alone.

       I am well aware that the world is being torn apart from the cancer that is the corporate greed of the festering capitalist system that dominates our lives. Most of the time my mind is filled with this nightmare scenario and what we can do to end it, and create that better world for all our kids and grand kids. However I love music, and saw this video and thought, not only was it technically brilliant, but extremely amusing, as they say, "man lives not by bread alone". Enjoy

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Lest We Forget.

             Here in the UK the British state’s level of brutality is relatively low at the moment, however, this is is not a sign of a mellowing, or that of a benign beast. The level of state violence rises and falls in line with the amount of protests against, and resistance to, its control over our lives. This slight trough in UK state violence is in part a sign of our compliance to its power, they see no threat. This can, and has changed dramatically, as soon as the establishment senses a rise in resistance to its power. For those lulled into a false sense that the state is a talking shop for the expression of “democracy” would do well to look back at our history.

1911 Liverpool General Transport Strike: 

          As the rail strike began to spread across the country, a mass demonstration in Liverpool was declared as a show of support. Taking place on August 13 at St Georges Plateau, 100,000 workers came to hear speeches by workers and leaders of the unions, including Tom Mann. The demonstration went without incident until about 4 o'clock, when, completely unprovoked, the crowds of workers suddenly came under attack from the police. Indiscriminantly attacking bystanders, the police succeeded in clearing the steps of St George's Hall in half an hour, despite resistance from strikers who used whatever they could find as weapons. Fighting soon spilled out into nearby streets, causing the police and troops to come under attack as workers pelted them with missiles from rooftops. Becoming known as Bloody Sunday, the fighting resulted in scores of injuries on both sides.
          Fighting across the city continued for several days, coming to a head when a group of workers attacked a prison van carrying some arrested strikers. Two workers were shot dead by troops during the ensuing struggle, one a docker and the other a carter.

Then Glasgow’s own Bloody Friday: 

             On Friday 31 January 1919 upwards of 60,000 demonstrators gathered in George Square Glasgow in support of the 40-hours strike and to hear the Lord Provost's reply to the workers' request for a 40-hour week. Whilst the deputation was in the building the police mounted a vicious and unprovoked attack on the demonstrators, felling unarmed men and women with their batons. The demonstrators, including large numbers of ex-servicemen, retaliated with whatever was available, fists, iron railings and broken bottles, and forced the police to retreat. On hearing the noise from the square the strike leaders, who were meeting with the Lord Provost, rushed outside in an attempt to restore order. One of the leaders, David Kirkwood, was felled to the ground by a police baton, and along with William Gallacher was arrested.
RIOTS AND ARRESTS.            After the initial confrontation between the demonstrators and the police in George Square, further fighting continued in and around the city centre streets for many hours afterwards. The Townhead area of the city and Glasgow Green, where many of the demonstrators had regrouped after the initial police charge, were the scenes of running battles between police and demonstrators. In the immediate aftermath of 'Bloody Friday', as it became known, other leaders of the Clyde Workers' Committee were arrested, including Emanuel Shinwell, Harry Hopkins and George Edbury.
TROOPS.
       The strike and the events of January, 31, 1919, “Bloody Friday” raised the Government’s concerns about industrial militancy and revolutionary political activity in Glasgow. Considerable fears within government of a workers' revolution in Glasgow led to the deployment of troops and tanks in the city. A full battalion of Scottish soldiers stationed at Maryhill barracks in Glasgow at the time were locked down and confined to barracks, for fear they would side with the rioters, an estimated 10,000 English troops, along with Seaforth Highlanders from Aberdeen, who were first vetted to remove those with a Glasgow connection, and tanks were sent to Glasgow in the immediate aftermath of Bloody Friday. Soldiers with fixed bayonets marched with tanks through the streets of the City. There were soldiers patrolling the streets and machine guns on the roofs in George Square. No other Scottish troops were deployed, with the government fearing fellow Scots, soldiers or otherwise, would go over to the workers if a revolutionary situation developed in the area. It was the British state’s largest military mobilisation against its own people and showed they were quite prepared to shed workers’ blood in protecting the establishment.

Then much more recently, the 1984/85 Miners Strike:

     Black and white photographs taken by friends, family and supporters at the 1984 Battle of Orgreave helped subsequently to demolish Police prosecutions for rioting that were levelled against 95 striking mineworkers. But at the time, very few close-up – and potentially incriminating – pictures made it into the news coverage of the mainstream media.
       Most press photographers and television camera crews were penned in behind police lines, and therefore kept largely to the perimeter of the eight-hour confrontation between pickets and mounted police.
       While newspapers and television news bulletins captured the scale of the conflict – and especially the graphic images of police on horseback charging through the pickets – there was nothing like the visual record of hand-to-hand combat that would be available today as a result of the abundance of camera phone pictures and videos that invariably emerges from demonstrations and protests.
        No wonder the iconic photograph taken by John Harris of Lesley Boulton, cowering as a mounted police officer approached her with a raised baton, has become an enduring image of the strike, reproduced repeatedly to illustrate the violent response of the police as the pickets assembled outside the Orgreave coke works on June 18, 1984.

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The Birth Of A Town.

      The rising numbers at Standing Rock, taking part in the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, is amazing, what started as a small group of dedicated people out to protect the water supply in their area, is fast becoming a small town in its own right. People from all over, who understand the damage that the corporate world is doing to the planet, are massing there to make a stand against this juggernaut of greed, that is riding roughshod over the people and there natural resources.

     These photos give some idea of the extent of the support for this stand to protect the water against the onslaught of corporate greed. Thanks for the link Loam.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk